Share this:

This is Jim Harbaugh’s best chance to humanize himself, show another dimension beyond the coaching brilliance and animated sideline temper.

Maybe tell a quick, amusing story about growing up with his older brother, John. Or marvel at the improbability of sharing the biggest stage in sports alongside the same guy with whom he once shared a room.

No chance.

Harbaugh arrived at his weekly news conference Monday in vintage form: black sweatshirt, tan pants, guarded tone. It’s the formula he used all season in guiding the 49ers into the Super Bowl, so he clearly sees no need to shift gears now.

That’s his prerogative – Harbaugh knows he will be judged and remembered for one thing: whether his team cradles the Lombardi Trophy on the night of Feb. 3. He also knows the questions about coaching against his brother will only multiply next week, when the 49ers and Ravens reach New Orleans.

So it really wouldn’t hurt to roll with this whole Har-Bowl plot line, just a little. John Harbaugh doesn’t have much interest, either, but he usually seems at ease when fielding similar questions.

Jim Harbaugh will not roll with the plot line, not even just a little.

“I think it’s a blessing and a curse,” he said of facing Baltimore. “It’s a blessing because that’s my brother’s team. And I played for the Ravens and have great respect for their organization. …

“The curse part is the talk of two brothers in the Super Bowl and what that takes away from the players in the game. Every moment you’re talking about me or John, that’s less time the players are going to be talked about. I just feel like the fighters are first, the ones playing the game. They’re the ones we should be talking about.”

This is an admirable view, but it’s not an either-or matter. There’s more than enough time in the next two, interminable weeks to explore the unlikely tale of two brothers coaching against each other in the Super Bowl and dissect every player on both rosters.

Sorry, Jim. This is no “curse.”

Harbaugh watched Baltimore’s AFC title game victory over New England on Sunday night, as the 49ers flew home from Atlanta. He later traded text messages with his brother, though they haven’t had a chance to talk and probably won’t this week given the preparations at hand.

Harbaugh also plans to answer “as few questions as possible” about coaching against John. Fair enough, but it remains a compelling and unprecedented layer to this Super Bowl.

Told this is the first time two brothers have coached against each other in a professional championship game, John Harbaugh said Monday, “I like reading a lot of history. I guess it’s pretty neat. … But it’s not exactly like Churchill and Roosevelt or anything. It’s pretty cool, but that’s as far as it goes.”

Worth remembering here: Both brothers did terrific coaching jobs in taking their teams this far. As Yahoo Sports detailed in November, John Harbaugh kept his Ravens on track despite a near-mutiny at a team meeting Oct. 31, mostly about “his treatment of players and perceived mood swings.”

Jim kept his 49ers on track despite the potentially disruptive quarterback switch from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick. That could have divided the locker room and wrecked San Francisco’s season, but Harbaugh’s leadership set the tone – and the 49ers flourished.

John Harbaugh paused and smiled as he began to analyze the 49ers to Baltimore-area reporters, as if he suddenly remembered his brother is their coach.

“Jim’s done a great job,” John said. “I’m proud of him and what he’s accomplished as a coach, but more so as a man – a family man, a father, a brother, a son. Their football team reflects his personality. They’re tough, hard-nosed and physical.”

Beneath this rugged exterior lurks another side to Jim Harbaugh’s personality. It surfaced in the mid-1990s, before his Colts played a game against the Raiders. Harbaugh was on a conference call with Bay Area reporters when he tried to make an analogy to a country-music song, but he couldn’t think of the song.

A few minutes later, the phone rang – it was Harbaugh calling back (no doubt a first in the history of NFL conference calls) to say he remembered the song. Then he enthusiastically sang a verse.

It was a cool and funny moment, a brief glimpse beyond Jim Harbaugh as football man. Don’t expect an encore performance in New Orleans.